Big Chopping Knives?

[Rat Finkenstein]

What is this little beautiful knife ???

http://cavemanengineering.com/

No offense, but 99% of people with big knives only have them for that "macho" BS. (Yes, this includes me) Not bashing the people who do, power to you.

Personally, I prefer a hatchet and a small knife. The one thing that makes a hatchet better than a knife IMO is that in a pinch, it can be used to split logs as well, something I doubt you can do with a knife.

I don't have any interest in acting macho towards other people. . . are you saying I am trying to impress myself? Done deal, as I am obviously impressive to myself, without the use of any knives.

I can split logs with a knife far easier than with a hatchet, because with a knife there is more spine area to pound on. Hatchets also suffer from an easily breakable handle in most cases, which could turn your small chopper into a primitive hand-axe in short order.

 

[MATCHGRADE]

I usually backpack somewhere with hard or soft wood, so your mileage may vary.

If I know I'll want a small fire or want to use the Kifaru Tipi and stove, and want to pack light, I take my gransfor mini. 11oz and can be used as a small knife, CAN dress small game, and pound in the tipi pegs.

If Im going to freezing temps, or will use the stove- I take the GB Wildlife or mini and a small fixed blade, and a
7" corona folding saw. The Wildlife does work faster than the mini. I use the corona folding saw for cutting wood becuase it is way faster, easier and less sweaty. I use the hatchet to batton segments of the round, or split it.
A large knife could replace a hatchet here because the saw is doing the cutting and the hatchet is used for splitting. If the saw breaks Id rather have a hatchet in reserve than a large knife- if its freezing.

If I dont know what Im in for but dont expect to make a fire I take the Steel Heart Fusion and a saw. I prefer battoning with a large knife, and if I get lost the steel heart can do everything, including BUSHCRAFT more easily than a hatchet (for me).

If SHTF Ill take INFI over anything.

If I want to screw around Ill take a kensai.

I dont know what my battle mistress is going to do yet.

Truth is, any one of the tools mentioned above can get me through.

 

[Fonly]

Hatchets also suffer from an easily breakable handle in most cases, which could turn your small chopper into a primitive hand-axe in short order.

True to a sense, but a wooden handled hatchet can be replaced, right?
I know the chances of break a busse are very small, is any, but what if....
I personaly am Much more confident with a 17" axe than with any knife of camparable size. And this is never going to change for anyone, Its what works for you.

 

[sandgrouper]

Hi,

I don't profess to any great expertise in this area, but I can't help but think that if you have a tolerance for, or even a liking of, measurements and rigour, then Cliff Stamp has done a lot of leg work in the hatchet/saw/chopper area on www.cutleryscience.com. One specific reference is the latter half of this page:

http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/busse_bm.html

If you knock off the busse bit at the end and have a look around the general reveiws there are plenty of relevant ones to choose from.

I am sure I have seen more on other pages as well, and I suspect he may have posted a lot of it on bladeforums but it is pretty handily packaged up on www.cutleryscience.com.

 

[fudo]

I've been meditating on the challenge question "Cheap Machete or Expensive Production Custom KNIFE" for a couple of months now. I, like the host of this thread, also wondered if a $600 knife makes sense if the same work can be accomplished by a $12 machete. I started a thread in another forum about my resolution to this question. I'm not sure if linking there is allowed in this forum or not.
Actually, I believe the answer lies in a hybrid between blades of the Golok,Bolo, Khukuri and Latin Machete DNA.
So I created the Mach~Axe. Not a totally original concept but it covers some new ground.
The requirements:
- It had to be at least as EFFICIENT at chopping an 8" diameter of seasoned wood as an axe with a 4" edge and 13" total length
- It had to have an edge straight enough to use for effective butchering and impromptu food harvesting & chopping.
- The blade weight (lightness that is), length & geometry had to support the clearing of dense vines up to 1" thick
-The blade weight (lightness that is), length & geometry had to support the occasional clearing of dense grasses and thin vines and brambles
- The point of the blade had to be somewhat effective as in impromptu defense weapon
- This point has to be somewhat usable as a 'point work' tool
- The grip had to ensure a safe and efficient grip on the backswing wind-up and a good forward stop on the stroke.
-The geometry and balance had to support an efficient use of a back-of-the-blade swipe at branches to simply complete a cut or to affect a limb breaking operation or other bone breaking but not cutting.
- The blade steel metal had to support the type of abuse a general clearing,harvesting and chopping tool would be subjected to and yet be easily sharpened in the field with a stone,file and emery boards.
- Finally, it had to be available in a variety of grips, blade thicknesses and special metals to suit the needs of the individual customer as well as intended tasks. For a dessert or salt air/water, a high carbon steel might not be as long lasting as something in stainless steel
*Obviously, such a blade can't be a true all purpose blade so I eliminated the need to do many things that a good 4"-6" blade is expected to do. No filleting of small fish, no processing of birds either. Nor would you be expected to perform fine tool making etc.
So the blade that I came up with is now called the Ranger Knives Mach~Axe.
Part Golok, Part Parang, Part Latin Machete.

I calculated that a blade length of 13" delivers the most efficient degree of leverage for my arm length. As shorter blade will require far more brute strength + battoning for chopping and a longer blade will require more effort to control impact vibration on thick materials, even as it it's more effective at harvesting grasses and thin vines.
I marvel at the pictures of the Busse BM series and other similarly styled and sized knives- because I've yet to witness a video of such blades efficiently dealing with thick wood any better than a folding saw.In addition, due diligence dictates that actually seeing the blade doing the work in a timed video, mitigates any questions about misrepresentation- say a felling axe is in the background- really does all the work off camera in no time flat- with the fancy battle blade jumping in for the cameo shots. or a hand full of still representing an hour or more of laborious chopping to fell an 8" diameter tree. Just dotting the 'i's here- no insinuations are intended, and I'll be the first to admit that if a sole seasoned tree and a 9" long blade with which to fell it was all I had for firewood, a two hour investment might well be worth the effort in a survival scenario..

Ranger Knives made the prototypes for me.

I bought 2 French machetes of the same size and weight in 1974-75 for $12 apiece.